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American Airlines is releasing a ton of flat bed Business Class award space to Europe for two people for Summer 2016.
Act Now to Save Miles
This award space is easy to connect to from anywhere in the United States. Right now the awards cost 50,000 miles per person per direction. Business Class awards go up in price to 57,500 American Airlines miles one way on March 22, 2016, but you can lock in your Summer vacation now at the current price. United and Delta charge 57,500 to 70,000 miles for a Business Class award to Europe.
Some credit card offers in this post have expired, but they might come back. If they do they will appear –> Click here for the top current credit card sign up bonuses.
For a limited time, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® MasterCard® and CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World MasterCard® are each offering 50,000 bonus American Airlines miles after $3,000 in purchases made with your card in the first 3 months the account is open. Don’t be thrown off by the word “Platinum.” Both cards have no annual fee the first 12 months, and then $95.
Get both cards and meet the $6,000 total spending requirement in the first month to have over 106,000 American Airlines miles before the devaluation. That’s enough for a roundtrip in Business Class to anywhere in Europe on a flat bed.
Product
The award space I will focus on is from Los Angeles and Charlotte to London.
The Los Angeles route flies American Airlines’ new 777-300ERs, which have only four seats per row in Business Class in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone layout.
The Charlotte route flies the old US Airways’ A330s, but they also only have four seats per row in Business Class in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone layout.
The Los Angeles product is marginally nicer, but both are great flat beds.
Award Space
Award space is good from Los Angeles <-> London and Charlotte <-> London on American Airlines flights this Summer. The calendars in this section are for two award seats on direct American Airlines flights.
I wanted to isolate American Airlines flights to avoid the nasty fuel surcharges you pay when redeeming American Airlines miles for British Airways flights. I did that by selecting “American Airlines and American Eagle” at the bottom of the search page.
Los Angeles to London
The best award space is mid-July and September.
If you are willing to connect, there is award space on even more days.
London to Los Angeles
The best award space is in May.
Charlotte to London
The best award space is in July and August.
London to Charlotte
The best award space is in late August.
Connections
If you don’t live in Charlotte or Los Angeles, you can still take advantage of this space. Those are two huge hubs for American Airlines with flights to most of the country. You can tack on Economy, Business, or First Class MileSAAver award space onto these international flights for zero extra miles.
If you don’t want to go to London, or you want to fly an open jaw award, this space is still useful. American Airlines partners British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, and S7 have tons of flights from London to the rest of Europe.
Award Prices (Including Taxes and Fees)
When you see “London,” your first thought should be about taxes and fuel surcharges. The big taxes are for departing London. The big fuel surcharges are for flying British Airways across the Atlantic. Both things are easy to avoid to limit the out-of-pocket cost of travel to Europe.
A one way Business Class ticket from the United States to London on American Airlines costs 50,000 miles + $5.60.
A one way Business Class return from London costs 50,000 miles + $284.
If you want to connect in London to a British Airways flights, taxes and fuel surcharges stay reasonable. Connecting to Munich has $60 in taxes and a $40 fuel surcharge for $100 total.
This should give you an idea for how to lower the taxes in your trip. Do an open jaw and see two or more cities in Europe. Start the return on the continent. Even if you fly from a high tax country and fly British Airways to London, you save about $100 in taxes and fees.
If you start in a low tax country, like Helsinki, and fly a no-surcharge partner, like Finnair, you’ll save over $200.
Booking the Award
You can book these awards right on aa.com. Pay the taxes and surcharges with your Citi Prestige® Card.
The Citi Prestige® Card offers a $250 Air Travel Credit each calendar year that offsets your first $250 in spending on airlines with the card. Taxes on an award ticket definitely count.
The card also comes with 40,000 bonus ThankYou Points after spending $4,000 in the first three months, which can be transferred to 12 types of airline miles or used like cash toward the purchase of any ticket.
Getting the Miles
For a limited time, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® MasterCard® and CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World MasterCard® are each offering 50,000 bonus American Airlines miles after $3,000 in purchases made with your card in the first 3 months the account is open. Don’t be thrown off by the word “Platinum.” Both cards have no annual fee the first 12 months, and then $95.
Get both cards and meet the $6,000 total spending requirement to have over 106,000 American Airlines miles.
Bottom Line
Book your Summer 2016 trip to London or anywhere else in Europe with fantastic flat bed award space in American Airlines Business Class.
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With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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Is there a good way or airport that will lower the taxes for the return trip to the US?
https://milevalu.wpengine.com/list-of-award-taxes-from-major-cities-in-europe-so-you-return-from-low-tax-countries/